Water Science & Technology Vol 65 No 9 pp 1713–1719 © IWA Publishing 2012 doi:10.2166/wst.2012.929

Municipal wastewater treatment by biofiltration: comparisons of various treatment layouts. Part 2: assessment of the operating costs in optimal conditions

Vincent Rocher, Catherine Paffoni, Alexandre Gonçalves, Sam Azimi and André Pauss

This work aims to compare the operation costs (energy, reagents, waste management) for the three layouts usually used in wastewater treatment plants incorporating biofilters, using technical and economical data acquired during 10 years of operation of a Parisian plant (Seine Centre, 240,000 m³ d⁻¹ –800,000 equivalent inhabitants). The final objective is to establish general economical data and tendencies that can be translated from our study to any biofiltration plant. Our results evidenced the savings achieved through the treatment process combining upstream and downstream denitrification. To use this layout reduced the operating costs by some 10% as compared with conventional processing only comprising downstream denitrification. Operating costs were respectively estimated at 37 and 34 €/1,000 m³ for downstream denitrification and combining upstream and downstream denitrification layouts.

Keywords: biofilter; denitrification; nitrogen removal; operating cost; wastewater treatment

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